Accepting a Windows of Opportunity grant award from NC Beautiful executive director Steve Vacendak, right, are, from left, Pink Hill Elementary School principal Lee Anne Hardy, fourth-grade teacher and grant winner Brenda Griffin and Lenoir County Commissioner J. Mac Daughety. Submitted photo.

When school volunteers dig into the salad course at Pink Hill Elementary’s annual volunteer appreciation luncheon in May, they will have a grant from NC Beautiful and the gardening skills of Brenda Griffin’s fourth-grade class to thank for their healthy appetizer.

The $250 Windows of Opportunity grant from NC Beautiful presented to Griffin in her classroom Wednesday will buy seed, soil and other supplies needed to grow lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes for the salads as well as flowers to decorate the luncheon tables.

NC Beautiful, through the Windows of Opportunity program, awards merit-based grants of up to $1,000 to K-12 teachers to conduct environmental projects at their schools. This year, about 34 winning grants were chosen from more than 120 applications from across the state, according to NC Beautiful executive director Steve Vacendak, who presented the grant check.

This is the fifth consecutive year a Pink Hill teacher has won the grant and the third time in five years the grant has gone to Griffin.

“We appreciate all that she does on behalf of her students and her school,” Vacendak, a former basketball standout at Duke University and the NBA, told the fourth graders. “I want you to know the money for this grant came from people who don’t know you, but they have confidence and they believe in you and they believe you will do your best to take advantage of learning while taking care of the environment. They don’t know you but they care about you.”

NC Beautiful has been promoting projects to beautify the state for more than a half century, according to Vacendak.